The Terrapins gymnastics team’s rocky start to its season continued yesterday at North Carolina, as senior captain and All-American Katy Dodds suffered an Achilles injury during warm-ups. Coach Brett Nelligan said the team believes the tendon is torn, and Dodds will miss the remainder of the season.
With Dodds unable to compete, the Terps could not keep pace with the Tar Heels, falling 194.700-192.300.
Dodds, who competed in every event but beam for the Terps, will be another significant loss for the team moving forward. In just three meets this season, the Terps have already lost two gymnasts to season-ending injuries, the other being Haley Jones, who tore her ACL.
“I expect the next person in line will step up,” Nelligan said. “We really focused in the preseason on increasing our depth. The goal was to be 10 routines deep on every event and you hope you never have to use that depth, but we are in a situation now where we are.”
Freshman Nikki Chung replaced Dodds on bars and sophomore Alex Zimmerman stepped in on floor. The team went with only five gymnasts on vault, choosing not to replace Dodds.
“Kathy [Tang] and Stephanie [Giameo] did a great job on vault trying to make up some of that scoring that Katy brings,” Nelligan said.
The Terps are now 1-2 on the season and still have not scored better than 193.675 in a meet. Last season, the Terps’ worst performance was 194.800. Improving the total score will not get any easier, as Dodds was the Terps’ top gymnast in her events.
The weakness on beam cost the Terps again as three of the six routines had scores of 8.75 or less. Freshman Nicole Dragon, senior Ebony Walters and Tang struggled in the event, all falling off the beam at least once.
“We have some new people in the beam lineup, and they are still adjusting to competition so its going take a little more time,” Nelligan said.
It was Dragon’s first time competing on beam, while Chung competed on beam in the exhibition, and she will provide another option for the Terps.
With her fellow captain unable to compete, Giameo, a junior captain, stepped up. After falling on her dismount on bars to start the day, she bounced back with a 9.800 on beam, 9.800 on vault and 9.775 on floor. With Dodds done for the season, the Terps will count on more routines like those out of the All-American.
“It’s hard when they lose one of their teammates, but [Giameo] did a really good job of rallying everyone together and putting our focus back on competing,” Nelligan said.
